Sunday, September 23, 2012

Hobo Spider Update: And A Political Hand Grenade?

The Views expressed below are that of the author (Richard Whitten Senior) and are posted here for discussion / dissection by the viewers of this blog. Feel free to comment but keep it civil or it will be flushed by me into the internet trash can.

To all amateur Arachnologists who attended the last Rick/Deb Pool Party:

The two Hobo Spiders collected at the Whitten pool edge are yet alive in my home lab. They are healthy and robust and seem unaffected by the serious smoke/smog generated by local forest fires. I have noticed a gradual change in their behavior however---

The larger of the two has repetedly attempted to push out the cork from his container in several escape attempts. He did once get away for almost a day and was found by me in the window sill eating a large fly and standing on the carcass of a previous meal (another fly). He was (reluctantly) returned to his cage and is better secured at this point.

The smaller specimen has made no attempt to move from the corner of his flask. He merely waits patiently to be fed regularly and rarely moves around much other than to eat and deficate. The two spiders have very different personalities. The larger one which escaped is obviously bent on procuring his own food and can hardly be contained in his zeal to improve his situation. By contrast, the smaller one shows absolutely no interest in doing anything but waiting (expecting) to be fed and watered regularly.

I have therefore formulated a theory (not yet scientifically proven) that these two Hobo Spiders are of differing political persuasions. The larger, ambitious one is obviously Republican, whereas, the smaller, lazy one is likely of the Democratic persuasion!

Please keep in mind that this conjecture is only theoretical at this point. We must remain strictly Scientific. I am however keeping quality field notes and will be following up on my observations in the future.